GusMac

Wow, those are some seriously psychedelic colour schemes there Fransisco. It would certainly be cool to see one of them done. I certainly never knew they used P47s as assembly ships. Think I'm off to google that book. Gus

Looks great Cees. You get a real impression of the scale in those images... and of the amount of dust you must have created to get to this point! Gus

That's pretty good, especially materials included. Bet the machine itself costs something eye-watering though.

Thanks for the clarification Jeroen. Pretty cool that it can even print in white. I hate to think what it costs. Gus

Wow, that looks amazing Jeroen. Presumably it works best on something with a very smooth surface like the MDF rather than natural timber? Does create lots of interesting possibilities though. Gus

Hope you didn't sneeze just after you took that last photo, Cees! That is an impressive pile of shavings. Can't imagine taking a plane to a model and ending up with such a neat result. Gus

Hi Woody, check you haven't hit the 'minimise' icon at the top right of the section which shuts the section and leaves the title text faintly visible. I only know that as I must have done it by accident and lost the WNW section. Gus

Sorry Cees, resin is out of my league at the moment. I'll leave that to you experts who've reached the exhalted heights of administration! Does look like an unusual subject though. Remember seeing Gannets at airshows as a kid - also an unusual beast. Gus

Lovely work Thomas and congratulations on the new addition. Hope she's sleeping well. Gus

Hi Cees, I'd agree with Wouter. I've only tried the rivetting a couple of times but the Dymo tape worked for me - not having a proper wheel or anything, being able to measure and mark the spacings on the tape with a pen was also a big help. Think you've put more effort into the tail of this beast than I have into some entire kits ! Certainly worth it though. Gus

Thanks for clearing that up Fab. How thick is the timber sheet? Surprised it has the strength to maintain the structural integrity in such a complex design. Not my thing, but looks very impressive. Gus

Hi Cees, the windows look great. I'm amazed you got such a good finish from CD box plastic, I would have thought it was too brittle. Gus

All that PE looks like a nightmare - very intimidating. I suppose if you screw it up you could always use it for draining pasta! Looks beyond my PE skills anyway. Gus

Thanks Cees, that makes sense.

Just a query Cees. Why did they have so many windows in the sides of a night bomber? Wouldn't have thought sightseeing was high on the priority list! Gus

Nicely done Cees, they look very consistent. I still can't quite believe what you're doing to this. Kudos, Gus

Just accumulated this little lot for my next project.. Going to build this as IDF F-15C 840 Commando which shot down the Mig-23 I recently finished. Thought it was 802 but the Osprey book states that was wrong, so change of plan. Thankfully the Cutting Edge decal set covers both. Have gone with the Quickboost seat as it has moulded on belts and I HATE PE belts for modern jets - please someone do some fabric ones. The seamless intakes and exhaust set are from Gary Hatherly at GT Resin and look amazing. The casting is excellent and the feathers on the exhausts are so fine they look really 'in scale'. Hope I can do this all justice with some of the amazing Eagle builds I've seen elsewhere. I'm gonna have fun trying anyway! Gus

Hi Cees, looking great. Can't imagine chopping up something like this without stressing so much about screwing it up. You're a brave man! As a pedantic physicist the proper name for the shimmy is precession and it is also a pain in the a**s with our hospital trolleys and wheelchairs! Cheers Gus

Hi Danny, I can recommend the Mig-23 having just finished one. Just a couple of things to watch out for - the closure of the centre section of the fuselage over the wing mechanism; make sure the cog which controls the wing sweep is pushed as far down as possible or you get a dome where the upper fuselage should be flat. The other is the fit of the vertical fin which can have quite a gap at the base and may be related to the first issue. Can recommend the Linden Hill decals as well as I used them for the Syrian insignia on mine and they looked great and went on easily. Look forward to seeing this take shape. Gus

Well Dennis, I'm getting together all the stuff I need to do the IDF F15C that shot the MIG down. However I might get sidetracked by the Bronco Comet - I had a great uncle who died recently and I did a bit of digging into his wartime service. He was in the 2nd Fife & Forfar Yeomanry and they were among the first to get the Comet in time for the Rhine crossing. Might be tempted to try it as a tribute. Never really done much armour but seems like a good excuse. Cheers, Gus

Happy festive season to all. It's now Boxing Day here by a couple of minutes and had a great day with the family and dogs! Gus

Thanks very much chaps. It was a lot of fun pushing my skills forward with this. Hope to carry on in the same way with my next project. Just realised I didn't include a link to the WIP as requested, so here it is below http://forum.largescalemodeller.com/topic/3351-trumpeter-132-mig-23mf/ All the best for the festive season to one and all. Gus

Well, this build is a lot of firsts - first build painted with an airbrush, first WIP on a site, first real attempt at 'proper' weathering on a build and rescribing and first attempt at black basing. Some efforts more successful than others and I certainly have to get better at taking photos. Used the Aires cockpit set and the Linden Hill Non-aligned Floggers decal set. This is a Syrian Mig-23MF shot down over the Bekaa Valley on 9th June 1982. Markings are as accurate as I can make them but there are very few pictures around from this time. Plan is to do the F-15C which shot this down next, although I might get sidetracked by the Bronco Comet. Hopefully, the compass grey will be more effective with the black basing. Think I was far too heavy handed with the painting on this one to get the proper effect. All feedback welcome as this is a big learning curve for me and some of the builds on here are so far ahead of my skill-set that I'm not sure I'll ever get there - but I'll enjoy trying! Cheers and a great festive season to all, Gus

Right, I'm calling this done. Seems to have taken an age to get these last few bits done but I suppose that's just the run up to Xmas. I've posted this in the Completed Builds for anyone who wants to see more. Gus

Ok, result of the Google-ing is that all the definitive statements I saw about the IAF keeping the turkey feathers seem to be wrong! There are lots of pics of Israeli 15Cs with the feathers removed, including the plane I want to build. Now whether they relate to the timepoint I'm after is a moot point but I think I may just go for the featherless resin from GT Resin as you get a good combined deal with the seamless intakes. Gus